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Monday, November 12, 2012

DUNWOODY, Ga. -- Asher Newman sits at his computer, proofreading his
latest entry aloud: "A better question is, are you better off than when
Obama took office? My answer to that is, it depends."

It's a busy time of year when you're a political blogger. Everybody wants your predictions.

"I think Romney has a good chance of winning the popular vote," he
said. "But I think Obama is probably going to win the electoral vote."

And everybody wants to argue your predictions. Asher sits in his
living room, saying to his mother, "Israel's going to be fine, mom."

Asher has plenty of things that cut into his blogging time, like his duties as a ninth grader at Riverwood High School.

Still, there is little to deter Asher from his true passion
-- politics, and his opinion. Here are a few of those opinions. "I feel
we need a national sales tax, like two percent on top of the local sales
tax, and we need a more simplified tax code. We need to raise the
Social Security age because when Social Security was created, the
average life expectancy wasn't even 65. Now it's 78."

Asher also has autism. He explains it this way. "It's kind of like you don't know what to do socially."
"Children with autism, they're very black and white," said his mom Susan. "There's no grey."

And Asher knows this could cause trouble for him down the road. "I
feel like if I ever have to have a wife and she says 'Does my butt look
big in this dress?' I'm going to say 'Yes it does,' and then she's going
to get mad at me."

But Asher can deal with mad. He is a confident, mostly straight 'A'
student whose encyclopedic knowledge of politics keeps him more informed
than most, even his teachers.

Joel Kadish is one of Asher's teachers and is the Student Government
faculty advisor. He and Asher discuss the election, including other
races around the country.

Asked if he feels like he's talking to a 14 year old, Joel replied,
"Definitely feel like I'm talking to someone beyond my years. The time
it takes to be so informed about so many things. I mean, I teach the
stuff."
Asher is holding his first political office -- class treasurer. He
smiles. "No one ran against me, and I was pretty satisfied because I had
to put in no effort, or speeches, or anything."

And while he gives the electoral edge to Obama, don't expect a
ringing endorsement. "I am in favor of Obama being re-elected. I mean I
don't like him that much, but the problem is I don't like the
alternative either."

All that knowledge -- but no girlfriend, yet.

"I wish I did but I don't," Asher said. At 14, he is smart enough to
know, there are some things even more complicated than politics. "I
probably don't have good enough social skills for starters. I'm not
exactly a charmer. I'm not Bill Clinton."

About Me

I am full-time Mass Communication faculty at Towson University in Maryland and adjunct faculty in the City University of New York (CUNY) Master's in Disability Studies program.
I research media and disability issues and wrote a 2010 book on the subject: Representing Disability in an Ableist World: Essays on Mass Media, published by Advocado Press.
The media have real power to define what the public knows about disability and that's what I research.